The Audit Finally Has Legs

While Holland’s audit of CMS received some press, it didn’t create a wave either , but today, almost 2 1/2 months after the Auditor General’s report, the Pantagraph runs a tough editorial with the audit and the power washing scandal front and center.

Illinois Department of Transportation executive Robert Millette is in the middle of this one because the firm doing the work, PWS Environmental Inc., is run by his brother-in-law. But the firm was hired by CMS, the governor’s supposed business arm, not IDOT. They may be different arms, but they belong to the same body.

PWS and its president, William Lologousis, have contributed more than $30,000 to the campaigns of the governor and his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Ricahrd Mell, according to The Associated Press.

This is just one more instance of the smelly deals the efficiency experts in CMS have been involved in.

A recent audit by the independent state auditor general should have been enough for the governor to clean house at CMS. Perhaps the hesitation is because his own Office of Management and Budget also appears up to its ears in the problems pointed out by the auditor general.

Both CMS and the governor have said repeatedly that CMS efficiencies have saved taxpayers millions of dollars. Too bad the auditor general can’t substantiate the claims.

But the zinger is at the end

Gov. Blagojevich was right when he said he wouldn’t put up with the “business as usual” in Springfield’s politics. He has allowed it to get worse.

The danger of the original audit wasn’t the audit itself to the Blagojevich administration. It was that it came just as the Lege was getting out and reporters had the time to track down corruption stories. The PWS scandal is the first, and it’s causing lots of talk in political circles. If more pop-up, drastic action is going to be needed to demonstrate a significant change in attitude by the administration.

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